NGE: Broken Sequence
by redeadlink
Summary: A 20-year old Shinji pilots Eva 01 for the protection of mankind. Armed with rugged good looks, wit, charisma, and a beautiful but deadly wife, he fights the Angels without doubt. I DO NOT OWN NEON GENESIS EVANGELION OR HIGURASHI NO NAKU KORO NI
1. Chapter 1 - He's Not The Same He Was

Piercing brown eyes met amber glasses. The two men faced each other for a long while.

"Hello, _Gendo_," said the younger man with a sneer. "It's nice to see that you still enjoy looking down upon everyone else."

From his vantage point over the tank, Gendo Ikari frowned. His son was supposed to be meek and passive. This display of arrogance from Shinji caused him to revise several contingencies in his head.

"It's been a while, Shinji," replied Gendo, keeping up a calm, collected facade. "I would have thought you happier to see your father."

"Oh right, the father I haven't seen in over 14 years. You abandoned me with my uncle and aunt when I turned 6, remember?" Shinji voiced. "Now get to the point. You called me here for a reason, correct? Something to do with your work at NERV, if I were to hazard a guess."

"I see tact is not your strong point, Shinji. However, you are correct. We would like you to pilot _this_."

Floodlights came on and pointed at the object in front of Shinji. A large purple head with a long horn rising out of it was illuminated clearly for Shinji.

"_Impressive,_" Shinji sneered, though he was far from impressed. "You made a cyborg. Congratulations. Why? Oh wait, is it to fight that big thing that crushed my car on the city limits? The army was getting destroyed by that last I saw."

"Precisely the purpose of the Eva unit," Gendo admitted. "The Evangelion artificial human is the only thing we have capable of fighting the Angels."

"Angels? Thing was more of a Demon to me. You might want to revise your codex on those. Angels were messengers of God, bringing good tidings. That thing outside was no angel." Shinji remarked. "However, why do you need me to pilot it? Why not get some soldier to do it? And don't even think about telling me that my mother's soul is in there and will only sync with me due to our relationship as mother and child."

Gendo was taken aback by the admission of knowledge of the Eva units' construction.

"Are you saying you won't pilot it?" He asked, his calm veneer starting to chip away.

"Oh I never said that," Shinji smiled, a smile with utterly no warmth to it. "So don't bother bringing Ayanami out. Or do. I'd like to meet her at some point today. If only to see how much she resembles Yui."

"What?" Gendo cracked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I not supposed to know about Ayanami? What a shame. Anyways, my terms for piloting are as such: Firstly, Ayanami does not pilot, ever, unless under most dire circumstances. Secondly, get some decent anti-armour weaponry. It'll come in handy against armoured targets, which there are sure to be. Third, I have on-scene command. Any decisions made on the battlefield are to be made by me. Fourthly, you give my wife a job at NERV."

"Your... _wife,_" stuttered Gendo. His reports on Shinji said nothing about a wife. Granted Shinji did drop off the grid for 6 years, once he turned 14.

"Oh yes, my wife. Fortunately, unlike you, I was able to keep my own family name. Shion Ikari will be coming to Tokyo-3 once I've successfully cleared out your current Demon infestation." Shinji revelled in the knowledge that he was confusing his father. "Anyways, you'll meet her soon enough. So, do we have an accord?"

"I... this is absurd!" sputtered Gendo. "Rei is vital to this project and can't be sidelined. Also, giving military command to a civilian?! The higher-ups would have my head for that!"

"Such a shame. I make a great tactician, though you wouldn't know that. I've been quite successful in avoiding your gaze for the past six years," murmured Shinji. "Well, if that concludes the business portion of our meeting, you may as well bring Ayanami in."

Within minutes, a gurney was brought in and hustled over to the horned visage of the cyborg. Upon it lay a young woman, with pale skin and pale blue hair. Her breathing was laboured and she wore a bandage around her waist and a cast on one of her arms.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me, the Demon looked like it was getting close to our location, 30 stories up," the young man remarked as he took two long strides away from the Eva.

With that remark, the Demon above released a wave of energy that penetrated fourteen armour plates. There was a rumbling in the Eva tank, and suddenly the ceiling above the Eva crumbled and began to fall. The two medics attending to Rei dove into the blood-coloured pool in an attempt to get away, but they became pinned under a great slab that bounced off of the catwalk above.

Back on the catwalk, the gurney had fallen over during the shaking and one of the heavy steel I-beams lay crumpled around it.

Shinji carefully picked his way through the rubble, thankful he had moved from where he was standing. He came to where the gurney lay crushed, and started to dig through some of the rubble. He had moved several slabs when he uncovered Rei's bloody upper body and head. A quick glance told him she was still alive, but would not last very long. Her ribs had been crushed by debris and a piece of rebar was sticking out of her stomach.

"Ayanami, can you hear me?" Shinji asked, with some concern.

Rei's eyelids rose, slowly, as though they carried a great weight upon them. She slowly looked over to where Shinji crouched over her.

"I hear you." The words came, pained.

"I'm sorry that we had to meet under such circumstances. I was hoping that I could get you to meet my wife and that we would be good friends," Shinji said, "But it appears that fate had something else in mind for you. You are dying, Ayanami."

"Will it be a quick death?" asked Rei. "Or am I to lie in a bed until my body can no longer support itself? If the latter, I would prefer to be given a gun."

"I have no gun," admitted Shinji, "but if you wish a quick, painless death, I can provide."

"Do it. You are a kind man, Shinji Ikari, to offer such a thing," Rei smiled, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes. "I would call you friend."

With tears on his face, and a hole in his heart, Shinji Ikari pulled his arm back, gripped a slab of concrete, and slammed it into her temple. With a sickening crunch, her skull collapsed and her body went utterly limp.

Slowly, Shinji got to his feet.

"Well, Gendo," he choked out. "It seems that you are out a pilot."


	2. Chapter 2 - Hand Cannon

Shinji climbed up out of the rubble. "Well, Gendo, it would appear you're down a pilot."

Gendo, slightly fazed by the death of Ayanami, stood there, clenching and unclenching his fist. He eventually locked gazes with Shinji. "Fine, you'll have command of this mission. Get in the Eva."

* * *

"Inserting plug. Stand by."

Shinji, wearing the headpiece given to him, muttered something about Gendo compensating for something.

"What was that? I didn't read," spoke the female on the other end of the comm channel.

"Nothing. It was nothing," chuckled Shinji. "What kind of weapons am I dealing with here, anyways?"

"There are two progressive knives, one in each of the shoulder fins. Those are your main close-quarters-combat weaponry. Scattered throughout the city are various firearms, scaled up for Unit 01, of course," came the reply.

"Thanks. What about power considerations?" Shinji asked. "I don't want to get killed because I ran out of juice."

"Currently you are connected to an umbilical cord which will provide power for you. Should you become disconnected, your onboard batteries will kick in, giving you five minutes worth of power for basic tasks. However, combat will severely drain them, so I advise relying on the power cable as much as possible."

"Are there backup umbilicals throughout the city as well? If my main becomes damaged or severed, those could come in handy," came the follow-up question.

"There are several power stations. Each cable is 45 kilometers long, so you will have plenty of room to work with. Will that be all?"

"For now, yes," replied the pilot.

"Very well. Flooding the cockpit with LCL. You will be able to breathe normally, so do not panic."

The plug began to fill with a reddish liquid, the same colour as the pool outside.

"Warmer than it looks. Tastes a bit like blood," remarked Shinji. "Comm's still holding up?"

"We read you, Major. Loud and clear," came the reply. A small vid screen popped up to Shinji's left. On it was the face of an older woman with long purple hair wearing a red jacket over a black blouse. "I'm Major Misato Katsuragi. I'll be feeding you mission updates and helping with tactical support."

"You called me Major," Shinji said, more of a question than a statement.

"Ah yes, Commander Ikari thought it unwise to allow a civilian to have command over military units, so you've been given an officer's commission. The pay is good, and you'll have clearance to most of NERV."

"Yeah, it'll also make it easier for Gendo to punish me if he thinks I'm getting out of hand," replied Shinji.

"I have no comment on that," Katsuragi replied.

"Anyways, give me a topographical map of Tokyo-3 with power stations and weapon storage lockers clearly marked on it. Let's go with green for power and black for weapons," ordered Shinji.

As the map came up, the Eva was moved to a launch pad. Studying the map, Shinji frowned and stroked his chin, passing his fingers through his small, neatly trimmed beard.

"What sector is the Demon in?"

"The Ang-"

"Demon, Major. Again, these things are no angels," Shinji cut her off tersely.

"The… Demon is moving through Sector C-2 on a course to Sector D-4," Katsuragi brought up the Demon's position on the map.

"Hmm. Alright, launch the Eva in Sector D-5. Pinpoint the nearest weapon once I reach the surface. I also want to know if the Demon starts doing anything strange as I launch."

The Eva was locked into place on the launch platform.

"Starting synchronization sequence. Engaging neural links one through fourteen. Connection established. Plug depth at eighty-two. Neural contamination negligible. Alright, Eva is ready for launch!"

The interior of the plug flashed several times. When it stopped, Shinji could see the holding tank from the Eva's perspective. It briefly disoriented him, seeing the world from the view of a two hundred foot tall cyborg, but the feeling passed.

"EVA LAUNCH!" roared Shinji.

* * *

In the abandoned city, the Demon marched on, unfazed by the shells and bombs of the military. Almost lazily, it raised an arm towards a squadron of attack helicopters. From a small spur on its wrist, a lance of energy pierced out and impaled the lead chopper. The Demon then flicked its wrist and the helicopter was sent spiraling into two of the others. The ensuing explosion sent shrapnel into the rotors of another helicopter and into the cockpit of yet another. Both helicopters dropped to the ground and detonated in massive blasts.

Five kilometres away, a hole opened up in one of the streets. The sound of motors running at high RPM grew louder and louder. All of a sudden, a purple behemoth grew out of the street. Shinji glanced at the tac display and quickly made calculations.

"Katsuragi, pinpoint the nearest sidearm on the display," he barked.

As he looked at the map, a black beacon appeared less than five hundred metres from his position. He took two long steps to reach the marked building. As he approached, one side of the building slid away and revealed an oversized version of a Desert Eagle.

"Nice, the stopping power will come in handy," Shinji said as he bared his teeth in a ferocious grin.

Grabbing the weapon, he spun back away from the building. Running down the streets of Tokyo-3, he moved to intercept the Demon. He moved surely and deftly, avoiding running into buildings.

Soon, the Demon came into view. It looked at the Eva, unsure of what this new creature was. After a second, it seemingly made the decision to attack. The arm raised, and the energy lance rushed towards Eva Unit 01.

Shinji laughed, and the Eva laughed with him, a horrible booming laugh. He danced to the side, bringing up the Desert Eagle. The gun bucked in the Eva's hands once, twice, three times, until Shinji moved into cover behind a building.

The shells impacted against a shimmering orange field, nearly invisible until struck. The Demon, unfazed by the attack, moved towards where the Eva had gone into cover. It rounded the building, only to discover that the Eva had moved.

A bloodthirsty roar came from above, and Eva Unit 01 came down like a hawk, landing directly on the Demon's shoulders. As it was driven into the ground, Shinji placed the muzzle of the pistol against the shoulder of the Demon and fired it twice. The bullets sheared straight through the arm and into the pavement below.

A burst of orange flashed against Shinji's view, and the Eva was thrown back two hundred feet.

"Shinji, it has it's AT field up. Ranged attacks won't work unless you can cancel it out with your own!" shouted Katsuragi.

"I'm on it, Major. It seems to be CQC specialized. The energy lance can work at range, but it's easy to maneuver away from if you see it coming. It also seems to be fixed. Meaning that if I attack from certain angles, it can't use it to successfully counter attack. The AT field is a worry but it seems to be set at a fixed range from the Demon itself. But, yeah, it could get in the way."

Shinji raised his own AT field, and sprinted straight at the Demon. As it raised its remaining arm, he fired off another round, aiming at the point where the lance would appear. The Demon's AT field rippled, but Shinji was already suppressing it with his own.

The shell tore into the Demon's hand just as the lance was emerging from the nub. The hand exploded in a spray of gore and bone, and the Demon let out a frustrated cry.

"Shinji, hit the core! It's the one weak spot on these things!" cried out Major Katsuragi.

"For massive damage, huh?" laughed Shinji. The gun came up again but all that came out of it was a loud _click._

"Aw, crap," muttered Shinji. He threw the empty gun to the side, and drew one of his knives from its mount in the shoulder fin. He ran towards the Demon, knife readied for a thrust. Just as he reached the Demon, its remaining arm snapped in front of the core, taking the blow that would have killed it. Unfortunately for the Demon, Shinji had another knife. He snapped it out of its mount, twisted the Demon's arm out of the way, and slammed the rapidly vibrating blade into the red sphere.

The core rapidly expanded, then burst in a spray of blood. The Demon collapsed on top of Eva Unit 01, and also exploded.

"Demon terminated. Returning to base."

The Evangelion turned and walked slowly away as the sky rained blood from the Demon's demise.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** _I wanted to write Shinji as a competent fighter and strategist. I know that in the original series, he didn't really know what he was doing, and I know I haven't made it clear as to how he became this way. But trust me, more will be revealed in the chapters ahead._

_Also, for the time being, I'm going to be posting weekly, usually Tuesday or Wednesday._

_Much thanks to BakaLyte from for proofreading and providing feedback on both chapters so far. Keep me in line, buddy._


	3. Chapter 3 - A New Home

The tires of the Nissan ground to a halt as the driver mashed on the brakes. Off to the northwest, a giant glowing cross formed, lighting up the region as though it were day. The driver got out of the car, awed by the spectacle. Pushing her flowing green hair back behind her ear, she sighed in relief.

"Well, I guess that means he won," she commented to no one. "I think I'll go surprise him."

Shion Ikari got back into her car, shifted into first gear, and continued on towards Tokyo-3. As she did, blood fell from the sky like rain.

* * *

As the Eva was locked into place in its holding cage, a blonde-haired woman walked along the catwalk to the entry plug's hatch. Wearing a lab coat over her blue blouse and black skirt, she sighed.

"Damage report," Ritsuko Akagi barked at the technicians swarming over Unit 01.

"Superficial damage only, ma'am. The paint's scuffed from when the Angel threw the Eva with it's AT field. Other than that, there's nothing wrong with the Eva," replied one of them.

The back plate of the Eva suddenly opened, and the plug was ejected. Climbing out of the hatch, Shinji Ikari stretched his arms up and behind him. He climbed down onto the catwalk, joining Akagi.

"Hello, Shinji. I'm Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, chief researcher for Project E. You did surprisingly well, for someone who's never seen an Eva before," she introduced herself.

"Dr. Akagi, a pleasure. I'm assuming that you helped design the Eva?" Shinji asked. "It functions very well."

"Thank you, Shinji. It's nice to hear appreciation for my work," she replied. "I only hope that your success rate stays the same. I'd like if Unit 01 came back in this condition every time."

Shinji laughed and started walking towards the exit.

"We can hope, can't we, doctor? I'll see you at debriefing. I'm going to go clean up now. This LCL is starting to stick."

* * *

Gendo Ikari sat at his desk, hands tented in front of him. Though one couldn't tell from looking at him, he was slightly confused on the inside. His son was not as he was supposed to be. When he had last seen Shinji, the boy had been meek and withdrawn; doing what he was told because that was how he got through life.

_*Something happened to him during the six years he went AWOL for.* _Gendo frowned. _*But exactly what?*_

His line of thought was dropped when a hatch in the floor opened and an elevator rose, carrying an old man with silvery-white hair.

"Your son seems rather capable, Gendo," remarked his second-in-command, Kouzou Fuyutski. "But how will this impact SEELE's plans? I don't see him as being easy to manipulate."

"We'll see about that," came Gendo's bemused reply. "I'm more interested in what happened in the time between me seeing him for his fourteenth birthday and today. I want you to hunt down any leads you can on where Shinji was during that time period."

"As you wish, Commander." Fuyutski turned and walked away. "One last thing. Eva Unit 00 is supposedly ready for reactivation. Following the mess that happened last time though, I'd put it off until we can conduct more tests on it. Not that it really matters. We don't have a pilot for it, and the Dummy system isn't quite ready for use."

"Your advice is noted, Sub-commander," Gendo replied. "Tell Dr. Akagi to run whatever tests she sees fit on Unit 00, and I'll work on finding a pilot for it."

* * *

As Shinji was cleaning up, Shion came into Tokyo-3 and pulled to the side of the road.

"He went to NERV, I believe," she recalled. "Guess I'll need to ask for directions, though. He forgot to tell me how to get there."

She flagged down a passing clean-up crew, and asked them where she could get to NERV headquarters from. After receiving the information she required, she thanked them profusely and got back into her car.

Following the road, she saw signs of the battle with the Angel. Most telling were the pools of blood gathered in the low spaces from the Angel's destruction, but she saw an empty shell from an oversized gun laying in a small crater in the ground from where it landed.

As she pulled into the parking lot that she was directed to, she memorized her surroundings. She parked her car out of sight of the entrance and got out, stretching her arms and legs.

"Hmm, he'll probably come out here when he returns to the city. I'll wait for him out of sight and surprise him from behind."

She moved and stood directly beside the door, out of sight of anyone coming up the elevator, and waited.

* * *

Shinji sighed and relaxed a bit. He had some adrenaline flowing through him still from his battle, but he could feel it wearing off. He made his way to the locker room. Once there, he found that a bag with his name on it had been set out. Inside was a change of clothes, a match to the ones that he was currently wearing.

"Well, someone was prepared," he grinned. "Hope they got my size right though."

He stripped out of his wet clothes, wrung them out, and placed them to the side. Stepping into the shower, he turned on the hot water and added cold water until he found a comfortable temperature. As he stood under the running water, he relaxed and let his mind wander.

After a bit, he washed his hair, getting the last traces of LCL out of it. He opened the curtain and walked out, reaching for a towel. As he did so, he realized he wasn't alone in the room anymore. A middle-aged man with glasses and short, black hair stood off to the side.

"Uh… hi? Can I help you?" Shinji asked, wrapping the towel around his waist.

"If this is a bad time, then no," the man replied. "I'll let you finish up here."

He left the room, and Shinji was left alone again. He pondered on what the man wanted, but thought little of it. He quickly finished drying himself off, threw the towel in with his wet clothes, and got dressed. Packing the towel and clothes into the bag, brushed his fingers through his hair, and walked out.

The man was waiting outside, and Shinji waved him over.

"Ah, I just came by to inform you that your apartment is ready. Please come with me," the man said.

"Sure. Just, could I get your name, please?" Shinji asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I forgot to introduce myself. Lieutenant Makoto Hyuga, Chief Aide to Major Katsuragi. I help run things in the command center," the man replied. "Nice job on the Angel, by the way."

"Anything for humanity's sake, though I still believe Demon to be the more accurate label. However, to maintain cohesion with the forces, Angel will have to do," Shinji relented. "Shall we go?"

Shinji and Hyuga moved down the hallway. As they walked, Hyuga gave Shinji a brief rundown of the facility, beginning from the Eva cage and ending at an elevator to the city above the Geofront.

As they exited the elevator, Shinji caught a scent of lilacs. At that moment, a pair of slender arms encircled him from behind, and he felt someone's breath in his ear.

"Hello, good looking," Shion said. "How's my champion of humanity doing?"

Hyuga jumped, clearly not expecting someone to be standing beside the elevator.

Shinji turned around, a warm, loving smile on his face.

"Shion," he breathed. "Now that you're here, I'm better than ever."

He pulled her close to him, and they kissed. Hyuga turned away, letting the young couple have their moment. He did feel a pang of jealousy though. Shinji Ikari was a lucky man to have been able to marry a beautiful woman such as this.

Shion pulled back, reluctantly. "Don't want to make things too awkward for your friend here, now do we?"

Hyuga mumbled out a greeting. Shinji merely laughed and introduced his wife to the lieutenant.

"Lieutenant Hyuga was just about to show me to our new apartment, Shion. I'm sure it would be fine if you were to join us and give it a woman's approval," Shinji explained. "You know that I'm decidedly less picky about such things as you are."

"I'm sure that will be all right," Hyuga said. "Well, shall we go? I'll show you the fastest route from your apartment to NERV headquarters as well."

He got into a black sedan, and Shinji and Shion got into the Nissan that Shion had driven in. As they pulled out into the street, Shinji looked out the window and saw a rainbow hovering in the air over the sector where he had his battle.

Then the Nissan pulled around a high-rise, and the image was lost.

* * *

Three minutes later, Shinji and Shion were being shown into a large, well-furnished apartment on the second floor of a 5 story complex. It had two bedrooms, one significantly larger than the other, two bathrooms, one off of the main bedroom and one off of the hallway. The kitchen was well laid out, with ease of access to the living area and the dining area.

In the master bedroom was a large four-poster bed, and a large closet. Shion wandered around, poking into every nook and cranny. Shinji looked through the cupboards in the kitchen, taking stock of all the supplies. As he did so, he found several small cameras, which he discreetly covered up with dishes or food supplies.

Hyuga spoke up, "If you find anything lacking, just requisition it through NERV. As well, there is a grocery store about a two minute walk down the street. I trust that these accommodations are sufficient?"

"Yes, quite satisfactory," murmured Shion. She walked into the living area, which was furnished with a large leather couch and an armchair. _*This is too nice. There's a catch. There's got to be a catch for a place like this.*_

"Excellent. I shall leave you two for the time being. There is a directory by the phone with numbers for Commander Ikari, Major Katsuragi, Dr. Akagi, and the rest of the staff at NERV," Hyuga informed them.

Saluting, he walked out the door.

"So, Shinji. What's the deal with us moving to Tokyo-3? What was wrong with Okinomoya?" Shion asked.

"NERV wants me to work for them. And by NERV, I mean my father, Commander Gendo Ikari. I'm to pilot Eva Unit 01, fighting against creatures known as Angels. I'm sure you saw the aftermath of my first battle as you drove in. I know I've been hiding from my father for the past six years, but I feel that this is important."

"Is that what that message was all about?" she asked, referring to a message that a man in a black suit and sunglasses had given them. The incident was the first time in six years that Shinji had been seen by anyone from NERV.

"Yes. He said that it was important and that humanity's future lay at stake. I don't know how, but I feel in my bones that if these creatures aren't stopped, it will be the end for humanity. So I must, to protect you, and the rest of the world."

"Well, I'd say that you're off to a good start, Shinji," she smiled and gave him a kiss. "But for now, let's rest and see what tomorrow brings."

Shinji made dinner while Shion unpacked her things in the bedroom. After eating, they lay on the couch together, planning how to get the rest of their belongings from Okinomoya to their apartment.

After a while, Shinji dozed off, tired from his ordeal with the Angel. Shion kissed him gently on the forehead, rested her head on his chest, and fell asleep with him.

* * *

**Author's Note: **_Not much action or drama in this chapter, I'm afraid. Sorry for the late update, but I have an excuse for that. My sister's wedding is coming up in a month and I've been busy with prep for that. I'll still find time to write, and I'll try to keep to my schedule, but it might be a bit iffy for the next month or so._

_Again, thank you to BakaLyte from for proofreading and providing feedback._

_As a final note, if you add a review, please leave a way to get a hold of you so that I can address any concerns and the such._


	4. Chapter 4 - Crab Battle

Shinji was dreaming, a strange dream full of shadows and flashes of red. He felt a weight pressing on his chest and in the distance came the sound of rolling thunder.

His eyes flashed open, and he remembered where he was. He lay on his back on the couch in the living room of his apartment, given to him by NERV while he piloted. He looked down and realized the weight on his chest came from his wife, lying with her head against his chest, fast asleep. Reaching his arm up, he brushed her hair away from her face, caressing her cheek as he did so. She moved at his touch, and slowly came awake.

"Good morn-" his greeting was cut off by the sound of someone knocking at the door, the thunder that had invaded his dream.

"Sonuva-" he muttered, looking at his watch. "Eight in the morning. Can't they leave us alone for a day?"

"Don't worry, Shinji. I'll take care of it," Shion arose, straightened her blouse and skirt, and moved towards the door. Shinji sat up, adjusted his shirt, and got up to see who it was.

Shion rubbed the last vestiges of sleep from her face, took a deep breath, and opened the door. In front of her was a purple-haired woman, wearing a red jacket over functional black military garb. The only accessory she wore was a small silver cross around her neck.

"Oh, you must be Shion. I'm Major Misato Katsuragi from NERV. I came by to drop off some stuff for Shinji," Katsuragi said.

"Yes, I'm Shion Ikari. Come in, come in. We were just about to start breakfast. Won't you join us?" Shion invited.

"I'm afraid that's not possible. I'm needed back at HQ immediately. Thank you for the offer though; I may take you up on it next time." Katsuragi graciously declined. She offered a bag to Shinji, bowed and walked back out.

"By the way, I live one floor up. Stop by anytime," she said. Then she walked away and around the corner to the stairwell.

"She seems nice," Shion commented as she shut the door. "What's in the bag?"

Shinji opened the bag and started pulling its contents out and laying them on the dining table. A dark uniform with a major's insignia, a blue, black, and white armored body suit, and a holster with a pistol soon lay spread out over the table.

"What's the body suit for? Is that what you wear when you pilot?" Shion asked, poking through it. "Go try the uniform on though."

Shinji took the uniform from the table into the bedroom. Five minutes later he returned. Shinji looked in disbelief as her husband stood in front of her. He wore black slacks, with a deep red dress shirt tucked into them. Over that he wore a black dress coat with red highlights. Belted around his waist was a black belt with a silver buckle. Black socks filled in black boots to finish the outfit. His major's insignia flashed in the light as he turned around for her.

"Well?" he asked, as her jaw slowly picked itself up from the floor.

"I… uh… _damn_, you look good in that," she managed to get out.

"If only you could see your face right now," Shinji laughed. "I'll go change if it's that distracting."

He walked back into the bedroom. He got the jacket and shirt off when the door opened behind him.

"Let me help you get that off," Shion said in a seductive voice.

Soon both of them were undressed and in the bed.

* * *

An hour later, Shinji was in the kitchen making breakfast while Shion had a shower. He looked over the stuff on the table again, noting the make and condition of the gun.

"Hmm, Heckler & Koch USP, .40 S&W rounds. Roughly 750 grams, just under 200 millimetres in length, with 13 round magazines. It's a good choice for a sidearm," he mused over the weapon. "I'm just curious as to why they think I need it."

He went back to the stove, finished making their breakfast and served it on the table, clearing off the bodysuit and the pistol. Shion came out of the bathroom, wearing a white blouse with a black skirt, with a small yellow scarf wrapped around her neck. She kissed him on the cheek, wrinkling her nose at his stubble. They ate breakfast together, continuing their conversation from the night before.

After a bit, they decided that they would phone Keiichi and Mion and get them to bring their stuff down in a cube van.

Shion cleared the dishes as Shinji packed the body suit back into the bag. As he did so, an envelope fell out of it onto the ground. Opening it up, Shinji grimaced. Inside were orders to be at NERV headquarters at 0800h for synchronization tests with the Eva.

As Shion ran through the logistics of moving with her sister, Shinji trimmed his beard and got ready for the day. They spent the rest of the day rearranging the apartment and swept for bugs, removing the ones they could reach and disabling the ones they couldn't.

* * *

At 0730h the next day, Shinji and Shion made their way to NERV. Shinji was dressed in his uniform (much to Shion's delight), and Shion was dressed in functional black pants and a navy blue blouse. Shinji wore the H&K USP40 on his hip, though he kept the holster strapped shut. Shinji carried the bag that Katsuragi had given him, slung over his shoulder as though he were going to the gym.

Soon they reached the testing chamber, where they were greeted by Major Katsuragi, Lieutenant Hyuga, Dr. Akagi, and two other aides. One of them, a disgruntled looking middle-aged man with shoulder-length hair, introduced as Shigeru Aoba, looked at Shion.

"Who's the whore?" he snarked.

Shion abruptly took two steps back from Shinji and the man. Aoba looked at her in confusion, and then back at Shinji. And then his face exploded in pain. Shinji's fist retracted, covered in blood. His eyes were cold as ice, and in the light looked like the eyes of a shark, devoid of emotion.

"I'd appreciate it if you referred to my wife as Shion or Mrs. Ikari from now on." Shinji's voice was hard as steel.

"Y-yes, sir," came the pained response, as Aoba held his hand to his nose.

"If you're quite done assaulting my assistant, Major, perhaps we can get started. You'll need to get changed into your plug suit. There is a locker room just down the hall, and on the other end of it is the entrance to the Eva cage. We'll meet you there," Major Katsuragi said.

"Yes, ma'am," Shinji acknowledged the order.

He took his bag into the locker room, opened it up. Taking out the plug suit, he laid it off to the side. Stripping down, he hung up his uniform on a hanger, placing it in a locker with his name on it. As he got into the plug suit, he noticed that it was extremely baggy. The only part of it that wasn't extremely loose was the armoured chest plate. Shinji sighed and put the connector clips on his head.

He walked out into the Eva cage. Shion, Dr. Akagi, and Major Katsuragi immediately burst into laughter. Aoba and the other assistant started to laugh as well, but Aoba had to stop as his nose started bleeding again.

"Here, let me help you with that, Shinji," Dr. Akagi came over to him and pushed a button on the wrist.

The plug suit made a loud sucking noise and vacsealed itself against every inch of Shinji's body. After it was finished, the suit was skin-tight, and showed off every inch of muscle that Shinji had. Major Katsuragi and several of the female technicians swarming over Eva Unit 01 began giving catcalls, while Shion just rolled her eyes at them. Aoba looked impressed, and more than a little wary. Dr. Akagi got everyone settled down and back to work.

"Alright, Shinji. Climb in and we can get started," she ordered.

Shinji climbed into the entry plug. It was inserted into Eva 01.

"Hello, Shinji. I'm Maya Ibuki. I'm going to be running most of the system checks and everything," the female assistant's voice came from the headpiece.

"Alright, Miss Ibuki," replied Shinji.

"Please, call me Maya. Anyways, prepping for LCL flooding. We'll be started in just a minute."

Shinji relaxed in the cockpit.

"Flooding entry plug with LCL. Neural connection established. Connections one through fourteen are showing green. Plug depth at…" Maya's voice dropped off.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Dr. Akagi and Shion asked simultaneously.

"Nothing is _wrong_, per se. But I'm showing plug depth at ninety-eight," Maya breathed out. "He's bordering the point where he and the Eva become one, but he's keeping his mind in control. Two points further and the line between Eva and human would be smashed. The Eva would be in control, not him."

"But he is in control, right?" asked Shion.

"He has absolute control. His mind is his own, and the Eva is an extension of his body." Dr. Akagi explained. "He's safe, unless he tips over the threshold."

Shion deflated in relief. Until the main viewscreen flashed red.

**Blood Pattern: Blue**

**4****th**** Angel Detected**

"Well, at least he's ready to go," remarked Katsuragi. "Major Ikari, prepare for launch. We need to deal with this now."

"I want to see what I'm going to be dealing with first. Prepare the Eva for launch, but hold off until we've seen what we're up against," Shinji countermanded. "Bring up footage of the Angel for me."

* * *

The fourth Angel came flying in from over the ocean. It was an ugly creature, reminiscent of a prawn, with an orange carapace and eight small legs rippling through the air. Easily visible underneath a rudimentary ribcage was the core. Two small holes in the sides of the carapace could be seen.

A squadron of fighters engaged it, firing missiles and machine guns without relent. Explosions surrounded the beast, and flashes of ricochets could be seen from where the bullets glanced off its carapace.

Out of the holes on its side, two glowing whips emerged. One lashed out and wrapped around one of the fighter jets, constricting around it until the fighter was sheared in half. The other one flicked into another fighter, connecting with the fuel pod, resulting the destruction of the craft.

The whips kept lashing out, until the entire squadron had been destroyed.

* * *

"Is it possible to quickly reinforce the armour on the Eva's hands?" Shinji asked, an idea forming in his mind.

"We can add plating but it will take several minutes," replied Dr. Akagi.

"Start on it now," Shinji said. "Delay that thing as long as you can."

He relaxed and formed his battle plan in his head.

* * *

Turrets popped out of buildings, unleashing torrents of fire upon the Angel. Anything that came near the core was deflected by the Angel's AT field. Everything else merely glanced off of the carapace. The whips started flashing again, shearing through turrets and buildings alike, destroying everything it deemed hostile.

"We're ready!" shouted Aoba.

"EVA LAUNCH!" Shinji ordered.

The platform the Eva stood on flashed upwards, leaving Katsuragi, Akagi, Shion and the technicians behind.

"Quickly, to the command center," barked Katsuragi.

Above the Geofront, ruined buildings surrounded the Angel. It leisurely moved away from the carnage, floating towards its ultimate destination.

Underneath it, a hatch in the street opened. Out of it leapt Eva Unit 01, directly towards the Angel.

"Target's designation is Shamshel, Major. It looks like you'll have an open shot to the core," came the voice of Major Katsuragi.

"Yeah, right. Since when is it that easy?" replied Shinji.

As he moved up, he pulled one of his prog-knives out of its mount, and stabbed towards the core. He missed and sheared off the tip of one of the legs instead, imbedding the knife in the carapace.

The Angel grabbed Unit 01 by the leg with an energy whip. It swung the whip in an arc, throwing the Eva across the city. The armour on the leg hissed and bubbled where the whip had grabbed it.

"Hmm, probably is a good idea to minimize contact with the whips," murmured Shinji. "Good thing we reinforced the armour on the hands."

He rolled to the side as the energy whips sailed towards him. They scored twin ruts in the hillside where he had just been laying moments before. He moved to a marked armoury, grabbed the rifle from inside, and held it loosely at his side in one hand.

"Hmm, scaled up Howa Type 89. It's good to feel a product of home in one's hands."

The whips lashed forth again. However this time, Shinji was ready. He reached out and caught the whips with one hand, braced against the building, and pulled the Angel towards him. Suppressing the Angel's AT field with his own, he rammed the muzzle of the rifle against the core and pulled the trigger twice. Two bursts of three bullets cracked open the core, and the Angel reared back in pain. Shinji pressed his advantage, entangling the Angel within its own tendrils, and fired another salvo directly into the core. It exploded in a torrent of blood, and the Angel followed suit.

* * *

The main screen stopped flashing.

**4****th**** Angel Destroyed**

* * *

As Eva Unit 01 had repair work begun on it, Shion met Shinji outside of the Eva cage.

"You kind of stink," she wrinkled her nose.

"Yeah, LCL isn't the greatest stuff to take a bath in," he smiled. "I'll clean up, and then we can go. I think we're done here."

* * *

Deep underground, Gendo Ikari stood in front of a massive tank.

"It's time."

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Again, thanks to BakaLyte from for reviewing._

_Okay, when I asked for a way to contact you if you left a review, I didn't really want the reviews to stop. Seriously, if you sign in with your account, I can PM you regarding your review and we can talk about what you think are weak/strong points, ideas, etc._

_Please, keep the reviews coming. If you don't want to sign in, that's fine. But ultimately what will make this fic better is feedback and the exchange of ideas between us._

_Sincerely,_

_Ken_

_P.S. Three weeks until my sister's wedding, so I apologize in advance if my chapters don't come every Wednesday.  
_


	5. Omake - Nighttime Riddles

**Author's note: **_So, Chapter 5 is still a work in progress. Honestly, it's at 1000 words, but i'm not anywhere near done with what i want for it. However, I still would like to throw something up for you. So here's a brief side story. Enjoy._

* * *

Shinji opened his eyes.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

It was so wrong he could feel the wrongness of it in the air.

He rolled over in his bed, and looked over at where his sleeping wife lay.

Wait.

There was no one there.

_*That's odd*_ he thought. _*I'm a pretty light sleeper, so I should have noticed her getting up.*_

He turned on the light, and sat on the edge of the bed. He looked on the ground. There lay a rumpled cloth. He picked it up and sniffed it. Immediately he felt lightheaded and sleepy.

_*Chloroform,* _he realized. _*Someone drugged me.*_

He scrambled out of bed, threw on a pair of pants and an undershirt and moved into the hallway. Walking quietly, he made his way into the kitchen. He grabbed his gun from the hidden drawer in the dish cupboard, checked the load in the magazine, clicked the safety off, and cocked it.

He grabbed the phone, and was about to dial Major Katsuragi when it went off in his hand.

"Yes?"

"You have 30 minutes, Major. Riddle me this: What is human, yet not human?" the voice on the other end rasped.

"I…" Shinji failed to respond.

"See you around, Major," The voice at the other end clicked off.

* * *

Seventeen minutes later, Shinji slowly eased open the door to Eva Unit 01's storage tank. He scanned the room, with his USP40 at the ready.

Seeing nothing, he opened the door all the way and walked into the room, gun held in front of him. He moved towards the Eva.

"What is human, yet not human? Obviously, the artificial human, Evangelion," he stated out loud.

"**Well done! You've proven yourself more intelligent than a sea slug!"** the voice boomed from an overhead speaker.

"What do you want?!" Shinji shouted.

"**Merely to play a game, of course. But not for money, no. The stakes are much higher. If you win, you get your precious Shion back. If I win, well…"** the voice laughed. **"Riddle me this: **_**What breaks without falling? **_**Twenty minutes, Major."**

* * *

Seventeen minutes later, Shinji arrived at the outlook over the city. He'd had to do some impressive speeding, but he reached his destination without incident. His phone rang within seconds of him getting there.

"What breaks without falling? The dawn."

"Congratulations! You're smarter than a sea star!" the voice rasped. "Riddle me this: _when is a door, not a door? _10 minutes, Major."

* * *

Eight minutes later, Shinji burst into his apartment.

_*I didn't think anything of it, but the door to the second bedroom was slightly open.*_

"When is a door not a door? When it's ajar!"

"Heh. Well done, my love," the voice was not the rasping voice he had heard over the phone or the loudspeaker. It was that of Shion. "Thanks for taking the time to entertain me."

"I… this was a _trick?!" _Shinji shouted.

"Yep. I was bored, I had a little scenario in my head, and I wanted to see you panicking," she laughed.

"I. Goddammit, even in Tokyo-3, I still can't get away from you and your sisters' games, can I?"

He put his gun down on the dresser, took Shion in his arms, and carried her to the master bedroom.

"I think you owe me for this _game_," he said.

"I most definitely agree," she replied.

And soon they were entwined together in the bed.

* * *

**Author's Note: **_Yeah, Shinji got trolled. But he did get laid in the end, so it works out. Anyways, Chapter 5 should be up next Wednesday. I'm actually looking quite forward to that._

_Unless, of course, BakaLyte decides that it's utter garbage and makes me re-write it._


	6. Chapter 5 - Family Problems

Shinji showered and changed into his uniform while Shion waited outside. Coming out of the locker room, he joined her and they headed to the elevator back to the surface.

As they reached the elevator, Shinji noted that it was moving upwards already. He pushed the call button anyways, so they could get on. The door slid open, and inside stood Gendo Ikari. His eyes hidden behind sunglasses that mirrored the light, he appeared stern and uninviting. Shinji locked gazes with him, and then he and Shion got into the elevator.

"Hello, _Gendo,_" Shinji's scorn slightly leaked through. "I don't believe I've had the chance to introduce you to my wife, Shion, yet."

Gendo grunted a greeting, and held his left hand out. Shion shook it, and bowed slightly. After several minutes in awkward silence, the elevator stopped and Gendo got off. He turned around and spoke to Shinji.

"The pilot for Evangelion Unit 00 will be ready tomorrow."

"Who is it?" Shinji asked, but Gendo was already walking away.

The doors to the elevator closed and it began its upward climb again.

"He likes to play things close to the chest, doesn't he?" commented Shion.

* * *

As they were driving back to the apartment, a moving truck roared by, followed by a black SUV. Two men were leaning out of the windows, holding something in their arms. Quiet pops accompanied brief flashes of light from the ends.

"They're shooting at that truck!" Shion shouted.

As the truck took a corner, leaving black streaks on the ground, Shinji noticed a flash of green hair.

"Aw, shit! It's Mion! Shion, take the wheel."

They switched seats and began the chase. Shinji drew the USP40, and as they drew close to the SUV, he opened fire. Two bullets smacked into the rear of the SUV, and the driver immediately started swerving from side to side.

"Shion, get on the phone with NERV!" he shouted. "Let them know what's going on!"

He fired another two shots, aiming towards the man on the passenger side. One of the shots took off the rear-view mirror, while the other went wide, as the SUV slid around a corner. The man turned around, directing fire towards the Nissan. Shion was talking frantically on the phone with someone.

"Get down!" Shinji ducked back into the car as bullets tore into the windshield. The glass shattered, spraying shards all over the inside of the vehicle. Shinji felt brief flashes of pain as the glass cut his face, but he leaned out the window again, directing more fire towards the man. One lucky shot took the man in the neck, and a spray of blood painted a red streak across a bus stop as they drove by. The man on the other side pulled the body into the vehicle, took his SMG and popped out the sunroof, directing fire from both guns at Shinji.

The moving truck took the diversion as a chance to get away from the SUV. It braked suddenly and turned down a side street. The driver of the SUV tried valiantly to follow, but with the distraction of Shinji's firing and the high speed, he missed the turn and slammed the SUV into the side of the building. The man in the sunroof was knocked off balance, and Shinji took the time to put two bullets through the shooter's torso.

As Shinji and Shion were helping Mion and Keiichi, a black sedan came up. Major Katsuragi and two Section Two agents piled out.

* * *

The driver of the SUV came to slowly. He shook his head to clear it, then took stock of his surroundings. He crawled out of the ruined SUV, gripping his pistol, and saw a woman with green hair talking with two soldiers.

"That's gotta be the target. The green hair matches"

He aimed his pistol and fired.

* * *

Shinji and Shion were briefing Major Katsuragi on what happened when the sound of a pistol cracked and Shion's body tugged to the left.

The two Section Two agents turned around as one and blasted the driver of the SUV with three quick bursts from their Skorpion submachine guns.

Major Katsuragi shouted into a lapel radio, "Med team, my location, now!"

Within minutes, an ambulance came roaring around the corner.

"Shinji, go. Section Two will investigate what happened," she said. Then she started giving orders to the men on the other end of the radio. Shinji climbed into the ambulance, noting a group of four bodyguards taking up positions around Mion and Keiichi. Then the door closed, and the ambulance began driving away.

* * *

The ambulance pulled into the Emergency section of the All of a sudden, his phone rang.

"Yes?"

"You married into the _Sonozaki_ family?!" shouted Katsuragi.

"Yes," Shinji responded. "Is something wrong with that?"

"No. It's just hard to believe," she answered. "Christ, the son of the most powerful man in Japan marries into another of the most powerful families in Japan. So is that where you've been for the past 6 years? Hiding in Hinamizawa?"

"I wouldn't say hiding, necessarily. But yes, I've been in Hinamizawa and Okinomoya for the past 6 years. But that's a story that will have to wait. What have you found so far?"

"Well, the Sonozaki family is one of the most powerful Yakuza families in Japan. Our best guess so far is that one of the other Yakuza groups was taking a shot at the current head in order to destabilize their position. We're not really sure which group yet, though. And we're also not sure if we even want to get involved."

"Better not. I know Mion dislikes outside interference. The Sonozaki family can take care of themselves."

"Alright. Get some rest; we need you at top form for piloting. Also, get someone to clean up those cuts on your face."

"Will do, ma'am. Don't worry, I'll still be able to pilot that thing for you," he acknowledged and hung up.

He slipped the phone in his pocket, and stood up to stretch. In front of him stood a young man, taller than average, with a trim figure. He wore a track suit and his face held barely contained fury.

"You. You pilot that purple _thing?_" he asked.

"Yes." The word was barely out of his mouth when the man lashed out with his fist, catching Shinji in the jaw and reopening one of the cuts.

"So, it's your fault that my sister was harmed when your machine landed on her apartment building," the man lashed out again. Shinji, dazed by the first blow, turned with the punch.

"I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? That's rich," the man swung again, planting his fist into Shinji's solar plexus. "My sister has two broken legs because of you!"

"And she'd be dead if I hadn't fought, dammit!" Shinji responded. "Look, I'm sorry she was hurt, but I can't do anything about that. If I don't pilot the Eva, humanity as a whole will end."

The man's face turned even more red, and he threw another punch. Shinji caught the man's fist, and then spun around behind him. Bending the man's arm upwards, he tried to calm him down.

"Look, Mister…"

"Suzu- ugh- Suzuhara. Touji Suzuhara," the man grunted.

"Mister Suzuhara, I suggest you relax. You're angry, and you're not thinking clearly. I'm truly sorry that your sister was hurt, and I will gladly help her in any way I can, but you beating me into a pulp will not do you any favours," Shinji said. "Now, if I let you go, will you attack me again?"

"I… no," Suzuhara relaxed.

"Good. Now if you'll let me get cleaned up, we'll go see your sister."

Shinji let go of Suzuhara's arm, and went into the washroom. Looking in the mirror, he saw that several of the cuts on his face had reopened, and a nice bruise was already forming on his jaw. He washed his face, dried off and applied some bandages to the worst cuts.

Joining Suzuhara outside, Shinji noticed that the other man's eyes were bloodshot. _*Poor guy probably hasn't slept for days.*_

Suzuhara led him to a room on the third floor of the hospital. He knocked on the door, and entered when a young voice responded.

"Touji!" the occupant of the bed exclaimed. A young girl, about 12 years old, was sitting up with a book in her lap.

"sHello, Sakura. I brought someone to see you today." The change in Suzuhara's personality was significant. He had been brooding the whole way through the hospital, but around his sister, he was the epitome of joy. "Please meet Shinji Ikari. He wants to say something to you."

"I… Hello, Miss Suzuhara. I'm Shinji. I would like to apologize for what happened to you." He moved to the side of the bed and crouched beside her.

"Apologize for what?" she inquired.

"Well, according to your brother, your legs were broken when the Eva I was piloting landed on your building while fighting that crab creature. I'd like to apologize for my carelessness."

"You weren't careless! I thought you fought very well. You just had a bit of bad luck! Besides, if you hadn't fought it, it would have killed us. Don't apologize for trying to protect us."

She looked at Shinji's face, without a hint of anger.

"What happened to your face?" she poked at the bruise.

"I… uh… may have… punched him," Touji spoke up, embarrassed.

"_Touji._ Come here," she spoke with the voice only parents and exasperated caretakers can successfully pull off. As he knelt next to her bed, she grabbed him by the ear, and whispered something quietly into it. His face turned white, and he looked at Shinji.

"I'm sorry for, you know, hitting you. I shouldn't have gotten that angry."

"It's alright. I probably would have done the same in your position," Shinji accepted the apology with a laugh. "Well, I should go back to waiting for my wife. It was nice to meet you, Sakura."

"Nice to meet you, too, Mister Ikari!" she bubbled. "Come back and visit. Touji's the only one who comes by regularly."

"All right. It's a deal." Shinji and Touji left the room.

"She's very outgoing, isn't she?" Shinji said.

"Yeah."

"Again, if there's any way I can help, I'll do it," Shinji offered.

"Well, there is one thing," Touji said. "I don't feel right for hitting you."

"It's water under the bridge, Touji."

"No, it ain't right. Now come on, I want you to hit me. It ain't gonna feel right until you do."

"That's an odd request."

"Just shut up and do it. You owe me one, and I'd like to even things out."

"I.. all right," Shinji sighed. "Sorry about this."

He wound back and punched Touji Suzuhara square in the jaw. Touji staggered back, dazed. He shook his head a couple times to clear it.

"Damn, if I'd known you coulda hit that hard, I'da never asked you to do it."

"Are we good now?"

"Yeah, we're good," he said, his hand to his jaw. "See you around, Ikari."

He walked off, and Shinji moved to the nurse's desk.

"Bill all expenses for Sakura Suzuhara's care to NERV. I'll fill out any paperwork you need me to." He gave the nurse his credentials and filled out the forms he was handed. After he was done, he started walking back to Shion's operating room.

* * *

The doctor came out and greeted Shinji.

"How is she, doctor?"

"She'll be fine. The bullet took her in the shoulder, but it punched right through without fragmenting. Luckily, it also missed the artery, so the blood flow was slow enough that we could get it under control. From here it's just a matter of keeping the wound from getting infected. We'll go over that later with the two of you."

* * *

**_Author's Note: _**_Sorry for the long delay, readers. My sister got married in May, so that took up a large chunk of time. I had a minor mental breakdown in early June, so that also took up a bit of time. The rest of the time, I don't really have an excuse for, other than being lazy and stuff._

_I've gotten a couple PMs asking me when I'm going to get to the Higurashi side of things. My answer: soon. As in, within the next three chapters soon._

_Also, someone PMed me, saying that I spell things like colour and honour and neighbour wrong. It's not wrong. I'm Canadian, that's how I spell things. So, please, don't let that bother you.  
_

_Again, thanks to BakaLyte from for proofreading and providing feedback._

_Please review, and especially please review using a account, so that I can respond to your review through PMs._


	7. Chapter 6 - Mystery Woman

Shinji took Shion home that night. As she rested on the couch, he made dinner for them. After they ate, he pulled out a book, sat down on the floor, leaning against the couch, and started to read.

"How can you stand to read in German? Isn't it hard to understand what's being said?"

"If I don't keep it up, my German will get rusty. Besides, you're the one who pushed for me to learn something new."

"I guess. I'm going to sleep for a bit."

With that, she fell silent, and soon was fast asleep. Shinji pulled a blanket over her, kissed her gently on the lips, and sat back down. Picking up his book again, he was soon lost in its pages.

After several hours, he placed a bookmark at the end of the chapter. Getting up, he walked to the bathroom, washed his face, reapplied bandages to the worst cuts, and got ready to sleep. Opting to spend the night in the living room, he rolled out a futon. After setting an alarm clock, he pulled the blanket over himself and slowly drifted off, the exhaustion from the day finally getting to him.

* * *

At 0700, Shinji awake to the sound of his alarm. Getting out of bed, he checked on Shion, who was still fast asleep on the couch. He leaned down, brushed her hair out of her face, and kissed her on the cheek.

As he was making coffee and breakfast for himself, Shion stumbled in, her face contorted in pain.

"I think the painkillers have worn off," she mumbled, and flopped into one of the kitchen chairs.

Shinji quickly put together some extra food for her, and gave her another painkiller. After they ate, he gingerly took the bandages off her shoulder, cleaned the area around the wound, and reapplied fresh bandages.

"Just rest today, Shion. Try not to use your arm as much as possible."

"You know that I hate sitting around doing nothing."

"Well, after I go talk to Mion and Keiichi and get them released from NERV 'protection,' I'll get them to come over with our stuff and you can direct them where to put stuff. How does that sound?"

"A chance to boss the head of the Sonozaki family around? Yeah, that sounds pretty damn good."

"Yeah, I thought so. I'm heading to work. Our new pilot is supposed to be in today, and I need to be there to greet them. I'll phone in a few hours to check in on you."

Shinji put away the futon in the hallway closet, changed out of his uniform into a white collared shirt and a pair of charcoal grey slacks. He gave his wife a kiss goodbye, and began walking to work.

"Mental note: get NERV to replace my car."

* * *

Mion and Keiichi were both sitting in the waiting room looking bored when Shinji arrived. He walked over to them and greeted them.

"So you've been questioned about the incident?"

"Yeah, several times. Don't these people have better things to do than ask inane questions? This old man was going nuts," Mion replied.

"We just wanted a good grasp of the situation. They didn't mean any harm by it. Anyways, you've been given permission to leave, and Shion is waiting for you at our apartment. I wish I could talk longer, but I do have other duties today. I'll see you tonight."

He gave them directions to his apartment and an emergency contact number. As they got into the van, Mion shouted at him, "By the way, NERV went through the trouble of going through all your stuff. Don't know what they hoped to find, but I thought I'd let you know."

"Thanks. I'll check it out later. See you around."

* * *

Shinji was talking with Major Katsuragi about logistics and supplies in the Eva cages. A formerly empty cage was now occupied by an orange and white Evangelion, the prototype Unit 00. As they went over details, the door slid open.

"Lieutenant Ayanami reporting for duty," came a soft voice. "I am the pilot of Eva Unit 00."

The muscles around Shinji's eye tightened slightly, yet he made no other move. Major Katsuragi's mouth dropped open.

_*He's good,*_ thought Katsuragi, _*but I thought she was dead?*_

The two of them turned to face the newcomer. A young woman with blue hair and pale skin stood before them, saluting. At her side was a small duffel bag. She was smartly dressed in a dark blue uniform.

"At ease, Lieutenant," Shinji stated, returning the salute.

She relaxed her stance a bit, clasping her hands behind her back.

"Uh, Lieutenant? Can we get you to do some synchronization tests with Eva Unit 00?" asked Katsuragi. "We need to get a feel of how your machine will function."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Okay, change into your plugsuit. You should have received one when you… arrived."

Ayanami saluted, picked up the duffel bag and walked to the shower room.

"Very formal, isn't she? " Katsuragi offered.

"Indeed. If you'll excuse me, I need to speak to the Commander. You and Dr. Akagi can handle the rest of this, correct?"

"Yes, of course."

Shinji turned and walked out of the cages. His target: one Gendo Ikari.

_*My old man has a lot of explaining to do.*_

* * *

Far to the west, under the red ocean, something awoke. The Great Pyramid of Giza, inundated by the catastrophic flooding resulting from Second Impact, shuddered and broke apart, releasing the creature housed within. The monument built over the Angel as an act of worship was destroyed within seconds.

The Angel slowly rose out of the water, and began moving east. Moving slowly but surely, the great octahedron made its way to Tokyo-3.

As Shinji was making his way to Gendo's office, he nearly ran into a middle-aged man with long hair tied back in a rough ponytail coming from the other direction.

"Sorry about that," the man apologized. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"It's alright. It was also partially my fault. However, I do need to keep going."

"Hold on. If you're going to see the Commander, you're going to have to wait a bit. He's in the middle of a meeting with Fuyutski and some big-wigs from the JSSDF."

"And you know this how?"

"Because I was just leaving when they came in. It shouldn't be too long, though. My name's Kaji, Ryoji Kaji."

"Shinji Ikari."

"Ah, the Commander's son, and the primary Eva pilot. You've done good work so far."

"Thanks. However, I really do need to get going."

"Alright. See you around."

Shinji was already moving on. As he neared the door to Gendo's office, it opened and Sub-commander Fuyutski and two other gentlemen walked out. Judging from the uniforms they wore and the epaulets on their shoulders, he judged them to be the JSSDF representatives Kaji was talking about.

Fuyutski wisely stood aside and made no attempt to follow as Shinji strode into the office. He quietly closed the door after him, and moved on with his business.

* * *

Gendo Ikari had just opened up the case that Kaji had brought him. Inside was a small creature, similar to a larva, but oversized, with one large eye in the center of its head. He placed his palm against the creature, and it reacted to his touch by phasing through his flesh and bone and implanting itself into his hand. The sensation was painful and left his entire right arm tingling.

He had just pulled a pair of gloves on when Shinji strode into the room. His son slammed his hands on the desk and spoke clearly, and with a great deal of anger.

"Who. Is. She?"

"I assume you are referring to Lieutenant Ayanami. She is who she says she is."

"That's a load of crap. Rei Ayanami is dead."

"Ah, but this is not that Rei Ayanami."

"…"

"Speechless, I see."

"You cloned her? Father, I knew you were sick, but that is a level beyond. How many other Rei's are there?"

"There is only one active at any time. We just needed a… back up if anything happened to the earlier one. Such as that," he paused, as though trying to figure out the right word, "unfortunate incident the other day."

"And how many clones did you go through before that point, _Father?_"

"Just one. The Rei you killed was the second clone. The first one was killed as a child by Naoko Akagi, Ritsuko's mother, in a fit of rage. Horrified by what she did, she leapt off the edge of the control center. She was pronounced dead on impact."

"Wait, you said first and second clone. Who are they based off of?"

"Why don't you spend some time trying to figure that out yourself? Now, if you'll excuse me, I have things to do."

With that the conversation was over. Shinji ground his teeth in frustration and turned and walked out. As he left, he threw one last comment over his shoulder.

"Your arm seems to be causing you pain, father. I'd suggest you get it checked out."

* * *

Major Katsuragi was leaning over an array of monitors when Shinji came back in. She turned to talk to him, but stopped upon seeing the look on his face.

"It's not the same Ayanami, Major. It's not the one that was killed in the Eva cage the other day."

She stopped and thought for a bit.

"So she's a clone of her then."

"No. She is a clone, but so was the other one."

"Clone of who? And how many are there?"

"I don't know, but I intend to find out. I need to get around to going to the lower levels and seeing exactly what we're protecting here. We do have clearance for those levels, correct?"

"As far as I know, yes."

"Good, I'll do that this week. Now, how are the Lieutenant's results?"

"Ah. She can hold herself at a plug depth of 82. No mental contamination to speak of. She is excellent at following orders, and has shown to be flexible if her parameters allow it. She'll be an excellent Eva pilot."

"Good. We'll run combat simulations every day. Randomize the variables every time and we should be ready for anything. In fact, boot one up now. And tell Lieutenant Ayanami to remain in the Eva."

"Yes, sir," confirmed Katsuragi as Shinji walked to the locker room.

* * *

**_Author's Note:  
_**_Huh, formatting is being weird today. Ah well.  
_

_This chapter was supposed to be longer. There's a funny story to that though._

_I'm at my friends house and we were trying out the new RPG system he got (Tenra Bansho Zero. It's pretty fun, but I digress). Anyways, one of the people that was there said something incredibly unintelligent, so I facedesked. However, my head hit the table harder than I intended it to, and now I have this wicked migraine, and couldn't focus well enough to finish this chapter. So, my apologies on the brevity of it._

_Please review and leave a way for me to respond to the review._

_Again, thanks to BakaLyte from for providing feedback._


	8. Chapter 7 - Answers and Angels

Three hours later, Shinji called an end to the simulation. He popped the hatch open and climbed out onto the metal walkway.

"Major Ikari," Dr. Akagi spoke, "I would just like to point out that Eva Unit 00 is not capable of some of the things you put it through. Not yet, at least. We're still trying to figure out what caused its earlier malfunction. It is combat ready, but not fully functional yet."

"Alright. Thank you for the heads up, doctor. I'll keep the Lieutenant in a support role until her machine is ready for full combat."

He bowed and walked away to the locker room.

* * *

The giant octahedron paused over the point where Dubai used to be. As it paused for a moment, the area around it began to glow.

Blood-red liquid was drawn up out of the ocean. Four dodecahedral shapes formed around the main body and began to circle it, as if in orbit. It was a beautiful sight, the red shapes circling the blue.

The Angel again started its long, slow journey towards Tokyo-3.

* * *

Shinji was just climbing out of the shower when Lieutenant Ayanami walked in. Completely ignoring him, she began to undress.

Quickly wrapping a towel around his waist, he turned away from her.

_*Forgot we don't have separated locker rooms,* _he thought to himself, _*though I'm surprised she didn't react at all to my presence. Exactly how fucked up is this woman?" _ He waited until the sound of the shower came on, and then got dressed and left.

He was just about to start walking home, when he remembered that he was going to requisition a new car. He got back in the elevator and began his journey back down into NERV. Making his way to Major Katsuragi's office, he knocked on the door.

"Come in," came the response.

He opened the door and entered.

"Ah, Major Ikari. What can I do for you?"

"I need a new car to replace the one that got shot up."

"Ah, yeah. I can help with that. Did you have a specific type?"

"I'd prefer something economical and with storage space. I'd also like it armoured."

"Hmm," Katsuragi began looking through something on her computer. "Aha! How's this? A Nissan Altima, 3.5L V6. It has decent mileage, and is also armoured, as it was part of our fleet. However, we've replaced them with the new Maxima's, so we have some left over in storage."

"That'll do for now. Where can I pick it up?"

"You can pick it up from the vehicle bay one level down from the main entrance. However, there is one minor thing first."

"Yeah?"

"Sign this requisition form please."

Shinji signed the form that she handed to him. She took it back, and phoned ahead to the vehicle bay to let the attendants know he was on his way.

After a quick stop by the armoury to get another handgun and ammunition for both, Shinji was on his way home. The trip home was uneventful, and he made it home in less than five minutes.

* * *

As he walked into the apartment, the first thing he noticed was that the walls were no longer bare. There was a painting on every wall, and various small decorations lined the shelves.

"Oh, hey Shinji. This old man is getting tired of Shion's bossiness. Deal with her, would you?" Mion griped.

"I'll talk to her," he laughed, "but I doubt I can really do anything."

"Yeah, yeah," Mion chuckled. "She does have a mind of her own."

She turned back to unpacking, and Shinji moved into the living room. The first thing he noticed was Shion standing in the corner. In front of her, grunting as he moved the couch to a different side of the room, was Keiichi Maebara.

"Mmm, no. I think I want it over there," she commanded as she pointed out the far corner to Keiichi.

"Dammit, Shion, this is the fourth time you asked me to move the couch!" shouted Keiichi, his face red with exertion.

"Here, I'll help you with that," offered Shinji. He grasped the opposite end of the couch, and the two of them lifted it to where Shion wanted it.

"Mm, that'll do nicely."

"How's your arm, Shion?" Shinji asked. "You've been avoiding any lifting, right?"

"Yes, yes. I'm not stupid enough to make my injury worse," she replied, rolling her eyes at him.

"Oh, uh, Shinji. I'm afraid I have a bit of bad news," Keiichi spoke up. "It's about Folly."

"My cello? What about it?"

"It, uh, may have taken a few bullets during the ride in," Keiichi averted his gaze.

"What?"

"Yeah."

"Show me."

They went to the guest room, and Keiichi pulled the case out of the corner. Four bullet holes adorned it. Opening it up, Shinji assessed the damage.

"Hmm, two rounds through the body, and one merely winged it. The fourth bullet passed through the case without hitting the cello itself. It looks alright though."

"Only one way to find out."

"Yeah."

Shinji pulled out a chair, set up his cello, and began to tune it. When he was happy with it, he began playing a slow, mournful sounding tune that resonated throughout the apartment. His eyes closed, and a small smile grew across his face as he pulled the bow across the strings.

"Ah, Folly. Your music sounds just as beautiful as ever," he spoke to himself as he stopped playing.

He carefully put Folly back into its case, and joined the others in the living room.

"Did anything else important get damaged?"

"One of the pots got dented by a round, but it's still useable. Anything else that was destroyed or damaged was just knick-knacks."

"Good. Now that we're mostly settled in, we can relax for the rest of the day."

Shinji sat down on the couch, and Shion settled against him, while Keiichi and Mion took the other couch. They talked for a long time, going late into the night.

* * *

Shinji awoke to the sound of talking and laughter in the kitchen. He got dressed, opting for a light blue polo shirt with tan slacks. As he walked into the kitchen, he noticed the aroma of bacon.

"Morning, Shinji! This old man thought she'd treat you guys to an American-style breakfast today," bubbled Mion. Shion was sitting at the table, a glass of water in front of her. She smiled weakly as he kissed her on the cheek.

"Guess the painkiller hasn't kicked in yet. Where's Keiichi?"

"He's still sleeping. You can go wake him up if you can."

Shinji grabbed a marker and a glass of water. Going to the living room, he noticed Keiichi sprawled across the futon, face up.

_*Glad you were wearing some clothes,*_ thought Shinji. He knelt down and uncapped the marker. He lightly doodled cat eyes and whiskers on Keiichi's face, then began dripping water every five seconds onto his face.

After eight drops, Keiichi's eyes snapped open. Shinji quickly pretended to be drinking the water.

"Ah, what the hell?" How did I get wet?!"

"Maybe you were just sweating in your sleep?"

"…"

"Morning, by the way. Mion is making breakfast right now. Hurry up and get ready if you want any."

Keiichi immediately leapt out of the futon and quickly put it away, as Shinji went back into the kitchen.

"He's up."

Keiichi walked into the kitchen.

"So, what's for breakfast?"

Mion and Shion took one look at him and immediately burst into maniacal laughter.

"What? Is something on my face?"

This caused Mion and Shion to laugh even harder. Mion could no longer stand up, so Shinji took over cooking duty until they calmed down. Keiichi left to the bathroom to check himself in the mirror. Seconds later, "AW COME ON!" was heard throughout the apartment block.

After Keiichi cleaned up, they all sat down for breakfast. Mion had made bacon and scrambled eggs, with toast on the side.

* * *

The Angel was over the site where Sri Lanka once stood. Three Chinese fighters, stuck on a crap patrol route due to displeasing their commanders, came across it. As soon as they passed within eight kilometers of it, the Angel attacked.

A single high energy beam scythed across the patrol, and all three fighters were vaporized before they could even report. Their commander thought nothing of the loss, believing it to be part of ongoing border skirmishes with the remnants of the Indian army.

* * *

Keiichi, after helping with the dishes, began getting ready for work.

"So what should we do?" Shion asked.

"Hmm. Why don't you guys go exploring today? See the sights of Tokyo-3. Actually, wait. Go to the hospital where you were treated and visit Sakura Suzuhara. She's a girl who got injured in my fight with Shamshel. Apparently, the only person who visits her is her older brother, Touji. So I think it would be nice if you guys went and talked to her. Tell her Shinji says hi."

"Aren't you worried that those Yakuza might take another shot at us?"

"Not really. Since that incident, we've been under constant surveillance by Section Two. You'll be fine."

"Oh. I guess that will be alright. Have a good day, dear, and come home safe."

"Yes, ma'am," he threw a salute at her, kissed her on the cheek, and walked out the door.

* * *

As Shinji pulled into the parking lot, he noticed Rei Ayanami walking in from the other direction. She stopped and saluted him as he drove by. He parked his car, got out, and joined her as they made their way to the front entrance. Reaching the elevator, she swiped her passcard and selected the Eva cages. He swiped his and pressed the button for the lowest level.

"Why Terminal Dogma, sir?"

"I want to know exactly what I am doing here. So I'm going to find out just what is so important here that the Angels are trying so hard to get."

"…," she fell silent. Three minutes passed in silence, until the elevator reached Ayanami's stop. She got off, and the elevator resumed its trip downward.

Eight minutes later, the elevator stopped. Shinji stepped out and took in his surroundings.

A _massive_ black gate stood before him. Stretching taller than his Evangelion, it proved an intimidating sight. A meter off the ground was a small computer pad and card reader. Shinji swiped his passcard. Unexpectedly, the gate made no noise as it slowly split apart and retracted into the walls. What was inside took his breath away.

A lake formed of pure LCL filled the cavern beyond the gate. From his viewpoint, he couldn't tell if it was only a few feet deep or several kilometers deep. It was unnerving to look into it.

In the center of the cavern was an island that appeared to be made of skulls. Embedded in the island was an enormous red cross. But what was on the cross was what had taken Shinji's breath from him.

A monstrous figure, easily the size of Eva Unit 00 and Unit 01 put together, hung from the cross. It was pinned to it with two massive pins through the wrists and an Evangelion-scaled two pronged lance through the chest. Vaguely humanoid, but wholly alien, the creature appeared to be staring at Shinji with a malevolence he had never felt the likes of, though its face was hidden behind a seven-eyed mask. Where legs should have been, a twisted, deformed mess rested instead. It took several seconds for Shinji to realize that the deformities were _life-forms_, being grown from the lower part of the entity's body. Even more surprising was an aura of familiarity with the creature.

"What you see is Lilith, the second Angel, progenitor of all life on the planet," the voice of Dr. Akagi spoke from behind him.

He flinched and turned around. There stood Dr. Akagi, holding a clipboard. He stood quietly for a few seconds, trying to figure out what to say. He settled on saying exactly what he was thinking.

"Why the fuck is there an Angel inside NERV headquarters?!"

"Who knows? It was found here years ago by the Commander and his wife, along with Fuyutski. SEELE started to fund us then, back when we were still called GEHIRN. We built the Geofront over it, and we must protect it from the Angels."

"Wait. Protect it from the Angels? Isn't it an Angel itself?"

"Yes. But it is different. The other Angels are the spawn of ADAM, the first Angel. Lilith and ADAM are mortal enemies, and if the seed of ADAM were ever to join with Lilith, Third Impact would happen. As you probably already knew, Second Impact wiped out half of Earth's population twenty years ago. Theoretic ally, Third Impact would finish off the remainder, purging the old life in order to make way for the new. That cannot happen. So we, NERV, fight the Angels with a blend of their life and ours."

"The Evangelions."

"Yes. They are formed crossing human DNA with Angel DNA and binding the result with armor that restrains their power from fully awakening."

"And what happens if the Eva awakens?"

"We can't be entirely sure, but we estimate that an Eva Unit awakening could possibly trigger Third Impact. That's why we were surprised at how far you could push your Eva without going over a plug depth of 100."

"Okay, so now I know what I am fighting. However, I feel a familiar presence coming from Lilith. It reminds me of Rei. Now, I know that Rei is a clone. Of who, I do not know. But now I think I have a piece of what she is. She's not fully human, is she?"

"…"

"Rei was created in almost the same way as the Evangelions. She's a blend of Lilith and someone else, isn't she?"

Dr. Akagi's answer was cut off by the blaring of a klaxon.

**Fifth Angel Detected**

**Designation: Ramiel**

* * *

Shinji and Dr. Akagi sprinted back to the elevator, pausing only to seal the gate to Terminal Dogma behind them. In the elevator, a small screen popped up, showing a view of the outside world. From the west, the Angel floated in. It stopped directly above the Geofront and hovered there.

"All units, this is Major Ikari. Prep Eva Unit 01 for battle, and have Unit 00 stand by for launch."

"Aye, sir," Ayanami replied. "Unit 00 standing by and awaiting further orders."

The elevator came to a halt and Shinji sprinted to the locker room, threw on his plug suit and was out into the Eva cages before it had time to fully seal.

"Shinji, you'll need these!" Katsuragi tossed him a pair of A-10 Connectors as he stormed up the ladder to Eva 01's entry hatch. He deftly caught them and slipped them on when he reached the top.

"Begin the start-up sequence," he ordered as he slipped into his seat.

"Beginning initialization sequence," confirmed Ibuki. "Filling entry plug with LCL. Neural synchronization established. Plug depth holding steady at ninety-eight. No mental contamination detected."

Shinji closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he was staring at the world through the eyes of the Eva.

"Launch Unit 01 at sector D-4, point 18. Launch Unit 00 at Sector A-11, point 3. Lieutenant, take the sniper rifle there and provide covering fire."

"Aye, sir."

"Launch!"

The two Evangelions shot up their respective tracks. Mere seconds from the end of the track, Aoba noticed a change in the Angel.

"Sir, I'm reading a high energy buildup in the target! It's going to fire!"

The words were barely out of his mouth when the Evangelion hit the surface. At the same instant the Evangelion emerged, the Angel morphed and a glowing yellow beam emerged from the centre of it. The blast hit Unit 01 directly in the chest, but the Angel kept up the beam. Shinji released a long, terrible scream of pain, as the blast burned at the Evangelion.

"Shit! Retract Eva Unit 01 back into the Geofront!" ordered Katsuragi. "Ayanami, cover him!"

Ayanami opened up with the sniper, nine kilometers away. The Angel morphed again, merging with two of the orbiting dodecahedrons and sending an energy blast towards Unit 00. However, the crew of the command center threw up an empty building to cover her as she made her way back to the Eva lift. Shinji stopped screaming, but a quick look at the vidcomm channel showed him passed out in the cockpit. Eva Unit 01 remained stationary. As soon as Unit 00 was back underground, the Angel resumed its attack on Unit 01.

"The lift won't respond! It's been fused together!" Hyuga shouted.

"Cut the synchronization, and eject the entry plug!" Katsuragi responded.

Another blast shield emerged between Unit 01 and the Angel. The back plate of Unit 01 popped open and the entry plug shot out across the city. It skipped across a row of buildings and landed in a lake, releasing a huge cloud of steam. The Angel, satisfied that the Evangelion was no longer a threat, stopped firing.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

_Yes, I took Touji's sister's name from Evangelion 3.33. It's the only canon name we have for her, so that's what I'm gonna use.__  
_

_Okay. The Angel design. Slightly different from the one in NGE and Rebuild. While it kept the same octahedron main shape, I got the idea for the orbiting dodecahedrons when I was playing Tenra Bansho Zero with a couple of my buddies and was goofing around with some of my dice. A dodecahedron is a 12-faced object, by the way._

_Okay, let's see what else I had in mind for this note.  
_

_Ah yes. Um... wait. Okay, I've already started Chapter 8, so the delay between this one and the next shouldn't be as long. Unless, of course, I get utterly distracted by the AMVs I'm making as my other hobby._

_Thanks again to Bakalyte from for providing feedback, and thanks to my new reviewer, CyanicKnight from for proofreading._

_Please review (especially if you have an account, that way I can PM you regarding your review)._

_..._

_I'm also excitedly awaiting the day when I find a tvtropes article on this work. But no pressure._

_See you in about two or three weeks, when I post up Chapter 8. Again, if I get horribly distracted or have insane writers block, I'll at least try to write another omake._


	9. Omake - Club Activities, Gendo vs Shinji

_**Author's Note:**__ Sorry, this is going to be a quick filler chapter. Any filler chapters (denoted as "Omake #) are not relevant to the main plot of this story._

* * *

Amber glasses peered over a pair of cards. Gendo Ikari was using his patented hands-in-front-of-face pose to hide his emotional response to his hand from his opponent across the table.

In contrast to him, Shinji Ikari slouched in his chair. His hand lay facedown on the desk in front of him. He wore a smirk that had been etched into his face since the beginning of the game.

Between them sat Lieutenant Ayanami, who was serving the role of dealer, with Major Katsuragi behind her. Behind Gendo stood Fuyutski, and behind Shinji stood Shion. Dr. Akagi had declined to join them, stating "I'm too busy working with the MAGI and EVAs to play a stupid card game."

On the table in between them, three cards lay face up in front of them. A two of spades, a nine of diamonds and a six of clubs graced their vision.

Gendo, being the big blind, tossed forty dollars worth of chips on the table. Shinji matched him and called the hand.

Rei flipped over the next card, revealing a king of spades.

"I'll bet sixty," Shinji stated, tosses his chips into the pot.

"I'll raise you by twenty," Gendo responded, tossing eighty bucks into the pot.

Shinji matched it.

The next card was a seven of clubs.

"One hundred," Gendo said as he tossed his chips onto the table.

"One twenty," rebutted Shinji.

"One fifty," the older Ikari spoke, his expression unseen.

"Two hundred," Shinji's smirk grew wider.

"Two twenty."

"Two fifty."

"Three."

"Three twenty five."

Gendo's eye twitched slightly. His son's arrogant smirk was driving him insane. Most men were intimidated by his stature, but his son seemed to just _not care_ about him. And Gendo loved being the centre of attention.

"I fold," he reluctantly stated.

Shinji's smirk grew into a full-blown grin and he started laughing.

"Really, father? After eighteen hands, you've lost?"

Shinji flipped his cards face up. A two of clubs and a four of spades filled Gendo's vision. Gendo choked back a horrified cry. His son _had outbluffed him! _He carefully laid his cards on the table. What had been in his hand was a king of hearts and a king of diamonds. He had lost to a single pair of twos.

"Well, I guess it's time for me to honour my bet," he toned as he stood up and walked to his desk. He grabbed a case from one of the drawers and walked out of his office.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Dr. Akagi noticed a strange man in the EVA cages. She made her way towards him.

"Sir, this is a restricted area. You'll have to leave before security is cal-" her voice cut off.

Gendo Ikari, his face clean-shaven and lacking the distinctive amber glasses, frowned at her.

"Uh..." she stuttered. "I apologize for my tone. I did not recognize you."

"Carry on, Doctor."

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__Sorry, it's a really short one. A couple things. Yes, I know that I said I would have the next main chapter up two weeks ago. I also said that it was possible I would get highly distracted. This time, I got distracted by a new book I got._

_I would like to apologize in advance for the delay of the next chapter. I just lost a cousin and an aunt in a horrible car accident, so I'm really distracted by that right now. Those of you who are the praying type, if you could pray for my family as we go through this tough time, I would be grateful  
_

_As always, review, preferably with a account so that I can respond via Private Messaging._

_As no one reviewed this chapter before I posted it, I shall not be thanking them._


	10. Chapter 8 - The Best Laid Plans

Shinji Ikari, 20 year old pilot of Evangelion Unit 01, woke up three hours after his disastrous battle with Ramiel. He was lying in a hospital bed, staring at the ceiling. The ceiling seemed strangely familiar, though he could have sworn he had never been here before.

"Oh, you're awake!" exclaimed Shion.

He looked over to his right. Shion, Mion, and Keiichi surrounded Sakura Suzuhara, sitting in a wheelchair. Lt. Ayanami and Maj. Katsuragi stood behind them.

"Hey guys. Did we win?"

Katsuragi's face darkened.

"I'm going to need to talk to you and the Lieutenant about that. _In private._"

The others wheeled out Sakura, who offered a muted "see you" as Ayanami closed the door behind them.

"What's happening out there?" Shinji asked.

"Well, after you were extracted, the Angel morphed its lower half into a giant drill. That was three hours ago. It's been steadily coring its way through the twenty-eight armour plates that make up the base for Tokyo-3. Right now," Katsuragi looked at a read-out on her tablet, "it has just penetrated Level Seven."

"So we have," Shinji did some math in his head, "twelve hours before it penetrates all the way through to the Geofront?"

"Yes, if the Angel's speed remains constant."

"What do we have for resources?"

"We have various weapons for the Evas. However, the Angel automatically attacks any hostiles that emerge within eight kilometres of it."

"So, attack from outside eight kilometres."

"We would if any of our weapons could pierce its A-T field from that range. Unfortunately, we have nothing that can do that."

"Is there anything in development that could work? The JSSDF has to have some sort of weapon they're researching that could deliver the kick that we need."

"We've already begun searching."

* * *

Two hours and forty-five minutes later, they had a partial answer. The three of them sat around Katsuragi's computer, dressed for combat.

"This positron cannon should do the trick. We just need a power source large enough to deliver enough of a kick to destroy the Angel," Katsuragi spoke. "Still, I can't believe you got the JSSDF to share this with us."

"It was merely a matter of being reasonable with them," Shinji deflected. "As for the power source, I have an idea. In Hinamizawa, we have a saying. 'If one person throws rocks at you, two throw rocks back. If two people throw rocks at you, four retaliate. If a hundred people throw rocks at you, the whole village throws rocks back.'"

Ayanami thought for a second.

"So you're saying that we should suck the power from Tokyo to power this cannon? But the Angel is too strong for just one city's power plants to defeat."

"Close," replied Shinji, "but think a little larger."

Katsuragi and Ayanami thought about it again, and then Katsuragi snapped her eyes open in disbelief.

"You want us to power the cannon with the entire country's power supply?!"

"You don't think we can do it?"

"No, I don't! It's insane! And even if we could, there's still the logistics of firing it. Unit 00 still isn't combat ready, and Unit 01 is too damaged to do much more than pull a trig-," she cut herself off. "So what's your plan?"

"We use Unit 01 as a sniper. Equip it with the G-type gear, and park it on the Mount Fujiyoma reactor. Hook up the nation to the power grid there, then shunt it to the positron cannon."

"And suppose that the Angel detects us and decides we're enough of a threat that it fires on us?"

"Unit 00 will provide shielding. It _can_ project an AT field, can't it?"

"Yes."

"Any other ideas before we bet the farm on this one?"

"Not really."

"Then let's go. I need engineers to start connecting the power sources, and the civilians all need to be evacuated from the area. The operation begins now!"

* * *

As the military jet taxied towards the hangar with its precious cargo, one of the escort pilots hopped out of his fighter and walked over to where Shinji, Katsuragi, and Ayanami stood. He was a tall man, towering over the three of them. He moved with a laid-back attitude, but Shinji could feel an aura of extreme confidence coming off the man.

_*American,*_ the three of them thought as one.

The man removed his flight helmet, exposing a tanned face with several laugh lines. The man had dark brown eyes, almost black, and thick brown hair which was prematurely greying at the roots.

"_Whew, those cockpits can get cramped, eh?" _the man spoke in English. "_Which one of you is Major Ikari?"_

"_I am Major Ikari," _Shinji responded in kind. "_How can I help you?"_

"_Lieutenant Ken Abrahams, UN fighter pilot. I was told that my flight group and I are under your command for the duration of this mission," _the man held out his hand. "_Red Flight is ready for whatever you throw us at."_

"_Ah. More resources are always a good thing. It is an honour to meet you," _Shinji shook his hand and bowed slightly. "_How many of you are there?"_

"_There are four of us. All of us are veteran fighter pilots, and ready to give their lives for our families' futures."_

"_We'll begin the operation at 1030h. I look forward to seeing what you can do."_

* * *

At 1015h, Shinji met with Shion on the observation deck at Mt Fujiyoma. He embraced her, avoiding her injury, and then stood back.

"This is it. Wait for me. I'll be back sooner than you think."

He kissed her lightly on the forehead, ran his fingers through her hair, and then walked back to the elevator.

* * *

At 1020h, Major Ikari and Lieutenant Ayanami changed into their plugsuits and got in the Evangelions. Shinji opened a comm channel to the rest of his group.

"Alright, this is it. Watch each other's' backs, shoot straight, and we all go home."

He closed the public channel, and opened one to the Eva group.

"Drinks are on me after this. Now let's kick this things butt!"

"YES!" shouted Katsuragi.

Ten minutes passed in silence, individuals praying, making last minute checks of the systems, or just sitting and waiting. In Katsuragi's case, she was pondering on the amount and types of drinks she would get.

"Operation, START!"

The Evangelions settled into their positions, and Shinji took up the positron cannon. His Evangelion was equipped with the Type G targeting gear, allowing him to make pinpoint shots. In front of him stood Eva Unit 00. She held in front of her a doubly reinforced shell of an abandon space shuttle.

* * *

1030h. The Angel, Ramiel, was coring its way through the armour plating surrounding the Geofront. A minute later, it detected a wave of missiles heading towards it, launched from over fifteen SAM sites surrounding Tokyo-3.

Ramiel morphed into a bizarre geometrical pattern, and a high-intensity beam lanced across the night sky. In under four seconds, forty-five missiles exploded harmlessly in the air above the city.

Before the Angel could destroy the SAM sites, twenty remote-controlled AA guns emerged from their positions in the Geofront and poured fire into the Angel. Another wave of missiles kept the Angel from destroying all of the gun emplacements. As the Angel responded to the missiles, a squadron of helicopters and jets swarmed it, as the remaining AA guns poured fire into its underside.

"Positron cannon is at 90% charge and rising. Prepare to fire in t-minus 5…"

Shinji cracked his shoulders, and adjusted the rifle stock against his shoulder. He sighted in on the Angel's core, clearly visible as the Angel morphed around it, defending itself from the UN/JSSDF barrage.

"3… 2… 1…"

The night sky was brilliantly lit up by a glowing purple beam emerging from the end of the positron cannon. The beam struck across the distance between Mt. Fujiyoma and Tokyo-3 in the time it took to blink. Momentarily blinded, Shinji tensed.

"What happened? What's going on?!"

His vision returned, spots dancing in his eyes. His question was answered moments later when the same high-energy beam burned its way towards him. He groaned in pain, and struggled to keep from blacking out again. He could not focus enough to expand an AT field. All of a sudden, the pain cut off. Unit 00 had taken up a position in front of him, bracing against the mount for the positron cannon. Its shield was up, but quickly ablating away.

With great effort, Shinji willed Unit 01 back into position. He disabled the Type-G equipment with the press of a few buttons, and then took it off of the Eva's body and threw it to the side.

"Shinji, you've turned off your targeting computer. What's wrong?"

"It's not calibrated correctly. I'm fine. Sitrep?"

"Looks like the Angel blocked the shot with one of those dodecahedrons. Switch fuses, and get ready for another shot. Charge is at seventy percent."

"Major, Lieutenant Abrahams here. We'll see what we can do with that monster to give you some spare time and a better opening for your shot. We're loaded with N2 warheads."

Four fighters flew over Mt. Fujiyoma, the lead waggling it's wingtips as it roared over the Evangelions. Shinji forced himself to relax, and began sighting down the barrel of the positron cannon. He focused his view and his aim on the shining Angel over twenty kilometers away. A small indicator in his HUD displayed the charge for the positron cannon. Agonizingly slowly, it ticked towards a full charge.

A fresh scream erupted from Ayanami as the blast from Ramiel disintegrated the shield and hit Unit 00 directly on, ripping through her AT field as though it was a mere cobweb.

All of a sudden, four blasts of light appeared in the distance. When it cleared, the Angel had stopped its attack on the Evangelions, and focussed its attention on the more immediate threat of Red Flight.

"Now, kid! Kill this thi-" Lieutenant Abrahams voice cut off as he rolled to the side to avoid a blast.

Shinji gently squeezed the trigger. Again, the brilliant purple beam lanced out, and the night was lit up as though a new sun had risen.

Unfortunately, the Angel diverted another one of its orbiting dodecahedrons into the path of the blast.

"Ayanami! Raise your AT field! It's going to strike again!" Shinji shouted.

The orange and white cyclopean Evangelion, already darkened by the first blast from the Angel, shimmered slightly as Lieutenant Ayanami complied. Again, the Angel lanced out with its energy beam again, which completely engulfed Unit 00. Shinji heard her choke back a scream.

"Major, I see an opening. I'm gonna take it. Tell my wife and daughter that I made a difference," Lieutenant Abrahams radioed.

"What?"

Shinji stared in horror as Lieutenant Abrahams' fighter spiraled in towards the Angel's core. He juked back and forth, up and down, unpredictable. As his jet reached the core, he detonated his three remaining N2 mines. The Angel morphed back into its basic octohedral shape around the blast, and then with an unholy screech, it blew apart into a crimson torrent. The beam enveloping Unit 00 cut off, revealing a blackened shell. Neither pilot responded to Shinji's frantic calls.

* * *

_**Author's Note:  
**What's gonna happen?  
_

_Please leave a review, whether positive or negative. It helps me tune my writing style, so you'd be doing me a favour._

_Thanks again to Bakalyte from for proofreading and feedback. First time I haven't had to make any revisions. Normally he's got a bunch of stuff for me to add/take away.  
_


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